Out with the Old, in with the New...

Pierce got to ring in the New Year with one of his favorite sitters, Allie!  She always brings him some fun stuff when she comes and this time it was no exception.  She brought these party blowers and a 20 questions game for him.

We had fun with friends, watched some awesome fireworks, and the ball drop!  Here's to 2014!!

Christmas Continues, Part 2

The next morning, we packed up again, and headed down to the farm to see Gigi and Poppa.  The most exciting part of this trip was that this time the TX cousins were in town!!

I'm pretty sure Pierce's most exciting gift this year were these boots from Gigi and Poppa!

 The weather was really chilly but the guys did manage to get a game of football in one afternoon.  Chap thought Poppa would be an easy target since he's old and all, but he showed him!

Pierce said he got B, but I tried to tell him that wasn't really how you tackle in football!

This is how you know you are with your TX side of the family.

These cousins had such a great time together and played really well.  We can't wait to see them again!!!

Christmas Continues, Part 1

Christmas morning we got packed up and headed south to Grandmomma and Granddaddy's house to celebrate with them. Shortly after our arrival, we got to open LOTS more. We take turns opening and it usually takes quite a while, but Pierce was very patient and excited about all his gifts!

He was especially excited about his new bat, ball bag, and his Braves jersey!

Yes, this is what I live with....

Later that day, we headed over the Aunt Martha's house for A LOT MORE CHRISTMAS.  Yes, our day was packed full!  The little cousins loved playing together, Pierce was very glad to meet the new baby twins, and we ate way to much food.  Sadly, we didn't take many picture and I think this was the only family picture we got all day and this was probably close to 10pm!

Despite the craziness, it was a day filled with love, family and happiness!  And, we got to start all over and do it again the next day!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas morning was here!!  Thankfully, we slept until after 6:00...I think it was closer to 6:30 before we headed downstairs.  Pierce always thinks its torture that I make him sit and wait on the stairs for a few minutes to wait before he heads down to check out his loot.

We thought it was funny that he quickly ran over to check out his stocking totally bypassing the tree and looking to see what was sitting out from Santa.

Who knew that most coveted and exciting gift would be the bracelet maker?!

We enjoyed the wrapping on this gift from school.  I really do love his homemade gifts!

Time for the special treat to sing, "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and take time to truly remember and recognize the reason for the season and why we are celebrating!

For breakfast I made homemade french toast and attempted to make it look like a Christmas tree.  Pierce thought it was crazy he got to eat some m & M's for breakfast!



After a few hours of playing and quickly packing up, we headed south to start celebrating with our families...more to come on that!

 

"Twas the Night Before Christmas...

On Christmas Eve we headed to church that evening for the Christmas Eve candlelight service, then had a quick dinner with some sweet friends before heading home to get ready for the exciting and much anticipated night!

Best shot I could get, but can't believe how big they are getting!

Couldn't forget to put out the food for Rudolph and his crew!

And of course, some snacks for the big guy.

I was also quite the slacker this holiday season and did not buy any new Christmas clothes or pj's.  Luckily, he wiggled his way into another year of these pj's but I'm pretty sure he wore these last Christmas Eve too so I guess the only way I can tell the difference year to year is by his new accessory on his face! 

 

Before bed, he read to us, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" all by himself.  He made the book this year at school, illustrated a lot of it, and was so proud of it!  This handmade book will become an annual tradition to read before bed each year.  I can't wait to keep reading it for years to come!

 

So thankful to get to spend such a wonderful time of year celebrating with this little guy.  I love his excitement and thrill of happiness.  I hope it lasts for many, many more years!

"I'm the Gingerbread Man..."

Pierce learned all kinds of fun songs about the Gingerbread Man and other characters at school.  Can you tell he was so very excited for this project at home?!?!

This kid cracks me up and brings us so much joy!!!!

A Griswald Christmas

Pierce and I headed out in search of some fun Christmas lights and found them this year.  Our first stop was a house that had a light show set to music so you could listen to it via your car radio and watch it.  He got pretty excited when we drove by and saw the grinch playing through the house window!

 

Our next stop was this...I call it a mini Christmas Vacation sighting and a Griswald Family Christmas!

So glad we found this little gem!  It made for a fun visit.  We even ran into some friends while we were there!

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

We met friends from church at a local nursing home on the first official day of Christmas break from school to do some caroling.  We've gone the last few years so Pierce needed no help when we got in to know what to do.  This year was a huge bonus since he can read really well so the songs he didn't know he was able to follow right along!

 It was a wet, rainy, and extremely cold morning and I wasn't really feeling like going, but once we were there I was so glad I did.  The residents were so very happy to see all of the kids and I'm quite certain their sweet little voices made their day!  Luckily, I prepped Pierce before we went in about why they were there so I didn't really get too many questions.  He loved going and talked about it for a while.

Not only did they sing but they gave out cards, gifts, lots of smiles, and "Merry Christmas"!

Live Nativity

We attended our church's annual Live Nativity which was held just a few nights before Christmas this year.  It was a cold, rainy night to be outside but I'm always amazed to watch it through the eyes of my child as he takes it all in and is in awe of the story!

He was so excited to see Tanner as one of the Angels!

And, we couldn't forget his annual picure with "Mary".

 

The Reason for the Season

 

Pierce has some really sweet SS teachers this year...the Sunday before Christmas they had a birthday party for Jesus to celebrate his birthday!  Some friends were out but it's always heartwarming to remember the true celebration of the season which is sometimes hard to do with this age group.  Happy Birthday, Jesus!!!

Annual Breakfast with Santa

One annual Christmas tradition for the last several years has been attending "Breakfast with Santa" at a local eatery.  We love this event for several reasons.  A big one is that this is a great Santa, he sings a lot, he's very patient with all of the kids, and you get plenty of time and visits with him.  This even is very organized with crafts for the kids and especially, super yummy food!  I like that it benefits a local program in our area, the Bell Center, to assist with fundraising for their wonderful program.

Pierce kept asking where Santa's sleigh was and looked all around when we left.  I think we convinced him that the reindeer were getting ready for the big night and went to take a nap and get a snack while Santa was visiting!

HO HO HO!  Merry Christmas!!!

"Schools Out For...."



 ....Christmas Break!!  Woo hoo!!!

We played outside the rest of the afternoon...Christmas artwork , AND...

playing in the leaves...and with the neighbor kids until it was dark!

Testing Awards Ceremony

All of these kids were excited about their awards ceremony at Tiger Rock to celebrate their new belt accomplishments.  Can you tell by the look on their faces?!  Each group would have recognition individually and a huge curtain would be pulled back.  The parents would scream and clap like they just won an Oscar!

Pierce loves his teacher, Mrs. Williams!

Kindergarten Christmas Party

I was glad a few extra hands were needed for Pierce's class party so that I could attend.  If was a fun and BUSY morning on the Kindergarten hall!

The kids rotated centers making peppermint playdough, fingerprint artwork, made Christmas trees to eat, and decorated a Gingerbread man.  Fun stuff with his buddy, Blake!

Each child had their own stocking and they could fill their classmates with goodies!

The Gingerbread Man stopped be each class for a quick visit!

I can't believe the first half of Kindergarten is already over!  Such a fun morning to celebrate the season with these kiddos!!